Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

I have to admit, I did not understand Elizabeth Strout’s book Olive Kitteridge was a “novel in stories” until I read the NY Times review. I just thought it was strange that there was no real beginning or end and that a couple of the chapters came completely from left field. Now that I understand the structure it makes more sense, but it seems unfortunate that you have to know this to enjoy the book. The presence of Olive Kitteridge, a seventh-grade math teacher and the wife of a pharmacist, links the 13 stories. She is a large, outspoken, lonely and emblematic of the hardscrabble life on the coast of Maine. Several of the stories put Olive at their center, but in a few she makes only a fleeting appearance. The two weakest stories are the ones in which she is merely mentioned. Without her, the book goes adrift, as if it has lost its anchor. Each story is very well written and enjoyable, but as you read on, you do need some context to understand the characters. Olive's son and husband are featured in several stories and as such could be considered main characters, but again there is no real sense of depth with either. I felt there were a half dozen great stories that led to one almost great novel.

Obviously the Pulitzer committee saw genius in this book as the awarded it the 2009 award for fiction.